


'cause i like the sense of falling

by iphigenias



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 06:40:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16676491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iphigenias/pseuds/iphigenias
Summary: “Fine,” Catra says, slowing her pace. “But I just want the record to show that being a Princess has made youreallyboring.”“One woman’s boring is another woman’s emotional maturity,” Adora replies loftily, and Catra aims a kick at her bike again.





	'cause i like the sense of falling

**Author's Note:**

> these two make me heart go WHOOSH! so of course i had to write a 4k high school au in which the princesses are the cheer squad and the horde is the soccer team because why not, right? title is from 'blue motorbike' by moto boy, which is the atmosphere i was going for with this whole fic so definitely take a listen

Adora is waiting by the bike rack when Catra finally leaves detention. Catra rolls her eyes but makes her way over anyway. “Please don’t tell me you’ve been here this whole time,” she says, unlatching her bike lock and shoving the device into her backpack.

“Of course not. I had practice, remember?”

“Right.” Catra rolls her eyes again and waits for Adora to grab her own bike before walking towards the school gates together. “I forgot. Princess training.”

“I hate the way you make it sound.”

“What?” Catra laughs. “Like it’s dumb and stupid and too easy for you? Because it is.”

“Catra.” Adora stops walking and Catra, almost unconsciously, does the same. “Are you ever gonna drop this?”

Catra starts walking again. “Let me think. No.”

“It’s really not as awful as we thought,” Adora says, catching up to Catra at the gates. “The squad is super nice and it’s way more fun than running suicides up and down that field for hours on end.”

“ _The squad is super nice_ ,” Catra parrots, swinging a leg over her bike but not moving off just yet. “You sound like such a Princess, you know that, right?”

“I _am_ a Princess, Catra,” Adora says, then smiles in that arrogant, self-satisfied way she knows Catra hates. “Get used to it.” Before Catra can say anything else she pushes off from the pavement and is a flash of red down the street.

“Just as fucking dramatic as every other Princess,” Catra growls to herself, pushing off and pedalling hard to catch up. “I just don’t understand why you had to quit the team to join them,” she says when she and Adora are wheel-to-wheel again. She has to raise her voice to almost a yell against the noise of the traffic.

“The schedules clash, for one,” Adora replies. “And Coach Angella didn’t like how my muscle tone was developing with game training.”

“That’s got to be bullshit,” Catra says, pulling up beside Adora at a red light. “Your muscle tone is fine.”

“Why thank you,” Adora says, batting her lashes at Catra who scowls and aims a kick at Adora’s pedals to hide the fact she’s blushing. “And I don’t know. Maybe it is bullshit. But Angella isn’t. You know she actually cares about the squad? Can you imagine Weaver doing that? _Caring?_ ”

The light turns green. “Caring isn’t in their job description,” Catra says as they pedal off. “And Weaver is pissed you’re gone.”

“Maybe,” Adora replies. “But now she has an even better captain.” Catra risks a questioning glance over at Adora, who rolls her eyes. “ _You_ , idiot.”

“Oh.” They ride in silence for a few beats. “Well it still sucks you’re gone. And you’ll never hear me say a good word about the Princesses.”

“Okay,” Adora agrees. “But how about no more bad words? Neutral territory, from now on.” They turn the corner into their street.

“Fine,” Catra says, slowing her pace. “But I just want the record to show that being a Princess has made you _really_ boring.”

“One woman’s boring is another woman’s emotional maturity,” Adora replies loftily, and Catra aims a kick at her bike again. “Case in point.” Adora pulls up on her front lawn and grins at Catra. “Race you!”

Catra curses and pedals the extra twenty feet to her own front lawn next to Adora’s, dumping her bike on the grass and shoving her key in the front door lock. She takes the stairs two at a time once inside and sprints to her room where the curtains are open and she can see Adora standing in her own bedroom opposite, pulling the ugliest, dumbest face possible that still manages to make Catra’s breath quicken in her throat. She pulls out her phone. _u suck_ she writes. She watches Adora pull out her own phone from her pocket and grin at the screen, biting her lip as she types something in reply. Catra’s phone buzzes. _i win tho :P_

Catra flips Adora the bird through the window and smiles at her silent, full-bodied laughter. _princesses are so undignified these days_ she sends.

Adora replies instantly. _it’s called feminism, catra. u sure ur gonna pass apush this year?_

 _please_ Catra texts. _i’ll pass AND wipe the floor with your princess squad_

 _bold words_ she gets a moment later.

 _i’m a bold woman_ Catra answers, meeting Adora’s eyes through the window and sticking her tongue out. Adora laughs again and shakes her head. Catra’s phone buzzes a moment later.

_that’s what i like about you_

She has to read the words twice for them to sink in, and then proceeds to kick herself for it. Adora means nothing by it. Probably. They’re best friends and send each other stuff like that all the time. Plus if there’s anyone Adora would be interested in nowadays, it would be a Princess. They’re annoying like that.

Catra composes herself long enough to send a flexed arm muscle emoji back before giving Adora a small wave and collapsing onto her bed out of sight. As much as she hated Adora leaving the team, she thought that maybe she’d finally get relief from this dumb crush of hers. No more awkward locker room eye contact or being distracted by the bounce of her ponytail on the field as she kicked a goal. Except the feelings haven’t gone away; if anything, they’re worse. Which is just her luck, really. She’s never been able to stop thinking about Adora.

Her phone buzzes again. _u should come to practice tomorrow_ appears on her screen, followed immediately by _if u don’t get detention again that is :P_

 _y_ is all Catra sends in reply. She can practically feel Adora’s eye-roll a house over.

_because they’re my friends and ur my best friend and i want u all to like each other???_

_liking. princesses. does. not. compute._

_i’m a princess. u like me_

_adora can stay but she’s on thin fucking ice_

Catra’s phone is silent for a moment. She can see the little text bubble beside Adora’s name and forces herself not to hold her breath. _u don’t have to_ is what she finally receives. _but it would mean a lot to me_. Almost immediately follows a string of dancing girl emojis.

Catra sighs. Tomorrow is one of the only days their training schedules don’t clash which means she could, theoretically, attend Princess practice. It’s not like she’ll sign up to be one, or whatever. It’s just a favour for Adora, her best and obnoxiously pretty friend who is probably sending her trademark puppy-dog eyes through the window right now if Catra dared to look.

 _fine_ she texts back. _this better not damage my rep_

 _ur rep will be fine lol_ Adora replies. _thank u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ _❤️_ _❤️_ _❤️_ _❤️_ _❤️_

Catra stares at those hearts for longer than she would care to admit, and would probably have kept staring if her phone didn’t choose that moment to be a piece of shit and slip from her grasp onto her forehead. This has happened an embarrassing amount of times before, and Catra just groans as the phone slides off her face onto the pillow. This really is her life now. And the worst thing is? Thinking about how happy Adora is with the Princesses now, and imagining her smile when Catra turns up at practice tomorrow—she doesn’t think she would change it for the world.

 

*

 

“You’re still coming today, right?” is the first thing Adora says to her the next morning as they leave their houses together.

“Oh my God, yes, you weirdo,” Catra replies, hopping on her bike and waiting for Adora to do the same before riding off. “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“But it _is_ a big deal!” Adora exclaims, and Catra glances over to catch her infectious smile. “It means a lot to me, Cat.”

“Yeah, well.” Catra swallows heavily. “You mean a lot to me, so.” As soon as the words are out she half-hopes she said them too quietly to be heard; but Adora’s short intake of breath tells Catra all she needs to know.

“You mean a lot to me too,” Adora replies softly after a moment. A car whooshes past them and Catra revels in the white noise for a single, glorious second. “I hate that we don’t spend as much time together anymore.”

“We’re literally neighbours,” Catra laughs. This time it’s Adora who aims a kick at Catra’s bike.

“You know what I mean,” she grumbles, and Catra lets out a small sigh because the thing is, she really, really does.

“Then I guess you owe me one,” is what she says.

“I guess so,” Adora replies in a strange voice, but when Catra looks at her as they halt at a red light, the expression on her face reveals nothing. After a second she looks back and flashes a grin. “First person to the gates buys the other lunch?”

Catra grins; braces herself against the pavement for when the light goes green. “You’re on.” She should know to never bet against Adora—but at the gates, when Catra loses, the smile on Adora’s face is like the sun and makes it feel like a victory after all.

 

*

 

Catra steps inside the gym after school with trepidation. She tries not to set foot in this place if she can help it. It feels stuffy, oppressive; one of the many reasons why Catra decided to join an outdoor sport team.

The Princesses are already on the court in their garish uniforms, stretching and talking amongst one another. Catra hovers by the door for an awkward moment before a familiar blonde head pokes out from the cheerleader herd and gives an exaggerated wave.

“Catra!” Adora yells across the space, her voice echoing and making quite a few of her teammates turn their heads in curiosity. She jumps up from her stretch and jogs over. “Wow. You’re actually here.”

“I said I would be, didn’t I?” Catra doesn’t know why her voice sounds so defensive. Adora raises her eyebrows slightly but doesn’t comment.

“You did,” she replies. “It really does mean a lot.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra says, but she’s smiling now, and doesn’t have time to flinch away before Adora darts close and pokes her cheek dimple. “Princess you is insufferable.”

Adora just pokes her tongue out. “You love it.” She turns before Catra has a chance to reply and leads her to the bleachers. “Practice won’t be too long today,” she says. “Netossa has to leave early and she’s a base so there’s not many formations we can do without her. We’ll be done before you know it.” She gives Catra a final smile before rejoining the group, clapping her hands to get their attention and giving out directions for the new routine.

Catra… would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy the practice. She’s never really thought of cheerleading as a sport but it does look difficult—and _high_ , God, she would never be able to do this. The squad has a kind of magnetic synchronicity that Catra would kill to have on the field with the soccer team—she can see now why Adora chose this over the Horde. But the best thing about the practice is Adora herself. Catra’s brave enough to admit that. Adora is a magnetic force all on her own, and seeing her fly through the air in jumps and spins risky enough to make Catra’s stomach turn is actually kind of incredible. Her ponytail still has that mesmerising bounce that Catra was never able to ignore during a game; but she has to admit the Princess uniform is quite a bit more flattering than the soccer shorts and jersey. Not that Catra would ever be caught dead in it—but Adora looks good. _Really_ good. It’s enough to make Catra’s heart flip-flop in her chest.

Practice winds down after a few more minutes of Catra looking anywhere but at Adora, trying to control the blush she can feel rising in her cheeks. “Catra!” Adora calls out from the court, jumping up and down while waving. Catra rolls her eyes so hard she almost gives herself a headache, but pushes herself off from the bleachers all the same and makes her way over.

“Fun, isn’t it?” Adora says happily when Catra reaches the team, now occupied in their warm-down.

“If this if you angling to get me to join it isn’t going to work.”

“Oh come _on_ Catra, you did gymnastics when you were young! This would be a breeze.”

Catra shoves Adora away lightly. “Key words being _when I was young_. I don’t do this kind of thing anymore so just drop it, okay?” She looks down at her feet, feeling even more horrible when she notices how worn and scuffed her sneakers look against the shiny surface of the court.

“Okay,” Adora replies quietly after a moment. “I’m sorry, Cat.” She ducks her head down until she catches Catra’s eye and gives a tentative smile. Catra shakes her head but can’t help but smile in return.

“Whatever,” she says, searching for something to say to ease this strange moment of tension between them. “So am I meeting your friends or what?”

Adora brightens instantly at that. “Duh! Glimmer, Bow!” Two cheerleaders break away from the herd and walk up to Adora, smiling sickeningly brightly at Catra. “Cat, this is Glimmer,” Adora says, indicating the girl with short dyed purple hair and freckles across her cheeks that look like stars, then turns to the boy wearing a crop top and an earnest expression, “And this is Bow! Guys, this is Catra.”

Catra gives them both an awkward smile and nod. “Hey,” she says.

“You were in the Horde with Adora, right?” Glimmer asks, eyebrows raised.

“Til she abandoned us for the Princesses, yeah,” Catra replies, narrowing her own eyes. “Why?”

“Aaaaand that’s enough of that,” Adora says, cutting off Glimmer’s reply. “We’re all friends here, right?”

“Sure,” Glimmer says, at the same time as Bow grins widely at Catra and says, “Of course!” Adora glances between them for a moment, nerves evident in her body language, before speaking again.

“I was thinking we could all sit together at lunch tomorrow! Get to know each other.”

“Sounds like fun,” Bow replies. Glimmer glares at Catra but nods stiffly after a moment. Adora turns to Catra.

“Cat? Sound fun?”

 _I’d rather pull out my own teeth_ , Catra thinks, but takes one look at Adora’s pleading face and knows she could never let her down like that. “Sure,” is what she says, involuntarily smiling back when Adora beams at her.

“Great! Listen, I have to change out, so meet you at the bike rack?” Catra shrugs in agreement and Adora reaches forward for a moment to brush her fingers lightly against Catra’s wrist. “Thank you,” she says quietly, giving her one last smile before turning and heading to the locker rooms with the rest of the squad, Glimmer and Bow following closely behind. Catra’s wrist tingles from the touch, but she shakes it away with a curse and heads out of the gym for what she hopes is the last time she has to set foot in this place. When she gets to the bike rack outside she doesn’t have to wait long; Adora is jogging up to her a couple of minutes later.

“I know that was a bit weird,” Adora says as they walk their bikes towards the gate. “Sorry. Glimmer can get a bit stroppy about the Horde.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Princess,” Catra replies. Adora makes a frustrated noise and pushes forward to block Catra’s path with her bike.

“Will you just quit it already?” she says angrily. “I get it. You hate the Princesses. But I’m one of them now, Cat, whether you like it or not, and Glimmer is my friend too, whether you like it or not. So if you’re so determined to keep being a bitch about this whole thing then maybe we should—” Adora cuts off abruptly, colour high on her cheeks.

“We should _what_ ,” Catra bites out, already dreading the words waiting on the tip of Adora’s tongue.

“Maybe we should take a break.”

Catra barks out a laugh. “Take a break? What are we, a married couple?”

“God, you are so _insufferable_ sometimes!” Adora yells. “And right now it feels like all the time!”

“My apologies, Your Highness,” Catra says back, fighting to keep herself from screaming. “I didn’t realise I had to cater to your every fucking need now you’re a Princess.”

“Oh _fuck_ you, Catra.” Adora’s eyes are glistening and Catra knows it’s not just from the sun in her eyes. There is an ugly, roaring sensation in her gut telling her to stop, but Catra’s always been a glutton for punishment. She shoves her bike forward, jolting Adora’s out of the way, and swings a leg over the seat.

“Nice to know what you really think of me,” she says, eyes narrowed into slits. “Have fun with your friends tomorrow.” She pushes off from the pavement and pedals as hard as she can away from Adora, making sure she won’t be caught up to. Except when she turns the corner, and risks a glance behind her, Adora is still standing beside her bike where Catra left her—she isn’t following at all.

 

*

 

Catra keeps her curtains closed the rest of the week. She gets detention every afternoon for her bad temper, and pops a tyre on her way home one day so has to walk the rest of the way. She catches glimpses of Adora and immediately tries to forget them; sitting in front of her in APUSH, where Catra firmly keeps her eyes on her desk the rest of the period; across the other side of the cafeteria with her new best friends, laughing into her salad the way she used to with just the two of them. The bubbling anger inside of Catra has simmered down but it's still there, and every time she sees Adora it ignites again and makes her heart do all kinds of funny things.

Catra hates it. She hates this. Things have been rocky ever since Adora left the Horde but now—now Catra isn’t sure if she’ll ever come back into her life at all.

On Saturday morning there’s a knock at the door. Catra is home alone. She answers it without checking to see who it is, and when she sees Adora standing on the doorstep her mouth goes dry.

“Hey,” Adora says. “Wanna go for a ride?”

Catra pointedly looks over Adora’s shoulder. “I popped a tyre.”

“That’s okay,” comes the reply, soft and gentle. “We can share.” Catra meets Adora’s eyes. They’re hopeful.

“Let me get my shoes,” she says, closing the door firmly on Adora’s face and taking a moment to control her breathing before dashing upstairs to grab her sneakers.

Catra ends up perched uncomfortably behind Adora on her decidedly one-person bike as they make their way across town, but it’s not as awkward as she thought it would be. Their positions and the wind rushing past their ears makes conversation impossible, which suits Catra just fine, especially when she realises where they’re going.

Adora leads them off the road into the river park, bike jolting against roots and pebbles as they duck under the boughs of the first copse of trees into a deserted, sun-dappled, familiar clearing. When they dismount Adora leans her bike against the sturdiest tree and wraps her arms around herself before turning to face Catra.

“Do you remember this place?” she asks.

“Of course I do,” Catra replies quietly. “How could you even think I don’t?” She looks down at the ground and kicks a pebble away into the trees.

“I haven’t been here since…” Since they were eleven, playing pretend, and Catra had fallen from the tree she was climbing and broken her arm, and Adora had cried and cried thinking Cat was going to die and she'd said—

“You said you loved me,” Catra says, still looking at the ground.

“I did,” Adora replies. “I still do, Cat.”

Catra finally looks up. “But not like you did before, right? Not enough to choose me?”

“I do choose you,” Adora says. “I always choose you. But I choose the Princesses too. Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

 _Because you don’t love me the way I love you_ , Catra thinks. _Because you choosing me doesn’t mean what I want it to mean and I hate it._

“I can see you thinking,” Adora says when Catra doesn’t reply. “You keep all these things to yourself now, Cat. Can’t you just tell me like you used to?”

“I really can’t,” Catra says, laughing self-deprecatingly.

“Why not?”

“Because neither of us are the kids we used to be. And I’m afraid—” She cuts herself off with a ragged sigh.

“Afraid of what?” Adora asks, so quietly the question is almost inaudible.

Catra swallows. “I’m afraid if I told you, you won’t like the person I am now.”

“Hey.” And suddenly Adora is standing right in front of Catra, so close their feet are almost touching. She lifts a gentle hand and places it against Catra’s cheek, who leans into the touch almost unconsciously. “Trust me, Cat. There is no universe in which I won’t like you.”

Catra looks at her. Adora’s eyes are so wide and blue and trusting, and Catra would sink into their ocean depths if she could. “When you say you love me,” she says haltingly, watching Adora’s eyes widen, “What do you mean?”

This time Adora is the one who swallows heavily; Catra tracks the movement of her throat. Adora’s palm feels sweaty against her cheek. “You know,” Adora finally says, lifting her other hand up to place on the other side of Catra’s face, and then sliding both hands down until they rest loosely behind Catra’s neck. “You know what I mean.”

Since the day she broke her arm, Catra has always been afraid of falling. But more than that—she’s been afraid that if she falls, there won’t be anyone around to catch her.

Catra takes a deep breath and looks at Adora. Carefully, so carefully, she lifts her arms to rest them softly against Adora’s waist. They stare at each other for a long moment. “Catra,” Adora says, and Catra falls.

Adora catches her.

 

*

 

In all her years at school Catra has never been to a football game before. She settles uncomfortably into her seat in the stands, hands clutched around a burning hot chocolate that she only bought to settle her nerves, and watches the huddle of Princesses on the field as they prepare for their routine. A blonde head pokes out from the rest; spots Catra in the crowd and waves excitedly until Catra, blushing furiously, releases one hand from her hot chocolate and waves embarrassingly back.

The music starts and the Princesses begin to cheer. Catra would never admit it to anyone, least of all Adora, but she will never get tired of watching this. Of watching Adora sail through the air, ponytail flying, confident that her teammates will be there to catch her when she falls back to earth.

When the routine ends, Catra claps with the rest of the audience, leaving her half-drunk hot chocolate on the bench as she picks her way through the crowd to reach the fence. The Princesses are already right on the other side and Adora grabs at Catra’s scarf demandingly to pull her into a kiss. “Mmm,” Adora says when they pull apart. “You taste like chocolate.”

Catra laughs. “Hey to you too,” she says, kissing her girlfriend again. She smiles over Adora’s shoulder. “Hey, Glimmer, Bow.”

“Hey Catra! Did you like the routine?” Bow asks excitedly. Glimmer just smiles and nods awkwardly.

“I can’t say I watched much of it,” Catra says truthfully. She bops Adora on the nose. “Just this one.” Glimmer rolls her eyes and turns away, pulling Bow with her. Adora pokes Catra’s cheek in retaliation.

“She’s coming around,” she says, following Catra’s gaze to where Glimmer is warming down. “I’ll keep greasing the wheels for you.”

“If by greasing the wheels you mean telling Glimmer every embarrassing story about me, no thanks.”

“You say embarrassing, I say adorable.” Adora scrunches up her nose and laughs. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep your rep intact.”

“I think it’s beyond repair at this point,” Catra says. “But I guess that’s okay.”

“Oh really now?”

“Mm-hmm.” Catra reaches over and rests her hand against Adora’s neck, which is cool to the touch. “The Princesses aren’t all bad. I am dating one, after all.”

Adora leans into Catra’s touch, half-closing her eyes. “And how do you know she’s not an insufferable, stuck-up bitch like everyone says we are?”

Catra’s thumb slides down to brush against Adora’s collarbone, making her shiver. “Because I know you,” she says softly, and Adora turns her head to place a kiss against her palm.

“I love you too,” she says, and Catra’s heart feels like it’s in freefall—good thing she’s not afraid anymore.


End file.
